Sanjhi

Creating the domestic image

Householders shape the goddess on home walls using mud, forming her face along with celestial motifs. They paint these figures with varied shades. Neighborhood potters provide clay body components such as limbs and faces adorned with jewellery and weaponry. How elaborate these decorative elements are depends on a family's financial resources. The installation takes place at the start of Navratri, serving as a focal point for household prayer and wish-making.

Rituals and neighborhood gatherings

Throughout the nine festival days, women gather daily to chant devotional songs and perform ritual light offerings, usually guided by an elder woman. Unmarried girls join the circle to seek the deity's favor in finding good husbands, presenting food and prayers each day. Men often participate in the rituals after completing their daily work. Families use the occasion to petition for fulfilled wishes, known as mannat. On Dussehra, after singing kirtan, participants carry the clay image to water for its final ritual immersion.

Sacred art of Vraja

In the Vraja region, the practice took a distinct theological form centered on Radha and Krishna. Vaishnava tradition relates that Radha first made these images to summon Krishna, while folk accounts describe Krishna crafting a twilight flower portrait to comfort Radha. Although village customs historically relied on cow dung and blossoms, Vaishnava temples adopted the craft during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Trained Brahman priests create intricate diagrams using dry pigments over an eight-sided mud base that represents a lotus. At the center lies the seat of the divine pair, surrounded by intersecting lines spreading across eight directions. Chanting sacred songs before this floor art forms the core of temple devotion.

How Sanjhi is kept

On the opening day of Navratri, families mold mud into images of the mother goddess upon household walls, adding clay limbs and ornaments made by potters. Each evening, neighbourhood women assemble to sing devotional hymns and perform aarti guided by an older woman. Young girls offer daily food and prayers, while men may join after finishing work. On Dussehra, kirtan is sung and the goddess image is submerged in water.

When and where

The observance begins on the opening day of the nine-day Navratri festival, also known as Durga Puja. Daily prayers continue throughout this period until the festival concludes with ritual immersion on the day of Dussehra.

Domestic celebrations take place across northern India, including homes in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. A specialised temple art tradition is also practiced in the sacred region of Vraja.

What Sanjhi means

Crafting the domestic image lets families seek fulfilled prayers, termed mannat, and ask for auspicious marriages for their daughters. In the temple setting, the art reflects the divine love of Radha and Krishna, with the eight-sided lotus base representing divinity radiating from the center outward to all cardinal directions.

Days Sanjhi is marked

Questions people ask about Sanjhi

See also

Rama NavamiA Hindu spring festival marking the birth of Rama with prayer, fasting and processionsLohriA northern Indian midwinter festival of evening bonfires, folk songs and harvest foodsGangaurA North Indian spring festival honouring Shiva and Gauri with clay idols and processionsSitalsasthiA festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and Parvati

Good reading and sources

• Artist couple from UP bring Sanchi art to UdupiDeccan Herald, Article
• Artist couple from UP bring Sanchi art to UdupiDeccan Herald, Article

• Sanjhi on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.